“If you are not a part of the cure, then you are a part of the problem.”

Thalassemia is one of the most common inherited conditions of any major racial group in the European and Asian regions.

In Sri Lanka, there are insufficient measures in place to provide sufficient and accurate information to the individual, so that they may take up the opportunity of asking to be screened. Experts blame ignorance of parents for growth of thalassemia. However, its spread can be controlled easily through genetic screening and counseling. If only one parent is a carrier of the thalassemia trait, the child may have a normal life, but when both are carriers, there is a 25% chance in every pregnancy of a thalassaemics being born. If every expecting mother is informed and asked to get the test done to know if she is a thalassemia carrier, it will curb the spread to a great extent.

It is a part of the cure to want to be cured.

The Rotaract Club of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University.

The Rotaract Club of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University is a voluntary non- profit service organisation that falls under the Rotaract District 3220 and guided by the Rotary District 3220 of Sri Lanka and Maldives. Our priorities lie under five avenues of service and the community service avenue is one of the most popular avenues under which a majority of the projects are planned each year. We follow the footsteps of the Rotary International which has contributed to an uncountable number of service projects in the world. Project C.U.R.E “C.U.R.E,” the project undertaken by the Rotaract Club of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, consists of two phases.

Phase 1- Open 3x3 Basketball Tournament.

Phase 2- Up-close and Personal Concert of Bathiya and Santhush (BnS)

The 3x3 Basketball Tournament which was the first phase of the project was successfully carried out and took place on the 5th of March 2017 at the basketball Court of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, with a participation of 56 teams.

Having completed the 3x3 basketball, phase 2 of the project, the Musical Concert led by Bathiya and Santhush will be the first time in which a Rotaract Club of District 3220 would organise such an event as the “BnS- Up-close and Personal concert.” The proposed concert, planned to be held on the 3rd of May 2017 at the BMICH from 6pm -11pm, would take us closer to the objectives of “C.U.R.E”. Rotaract Club of KDU will be collaborating with The Rotary Club of Colombo in organizing this concert.

(Tickets are priced at Rs.1000, Rs.1500, Rs.2000,Rs.3000 and Rs.5000)

The first objective of the project is the awareness programme. Several types of Thalassemia are curable through medication. For some it is compulsory to do a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow transplant is not only expensive, it is a tedious process finding a matching bone marrow. It is therefore important that awareness and prevention is created at mass level so as to nip the problem in the bud.

The awareness project on the matter would take place via a Facebook Campaign on the causes and consequences of Thalassemia alongside an Awareness program focused on Rotaract Clubs of the District 3220.

The second objective, which is medical expenditure coverage for a period of three months, which would be carried out with the aid of the funds collected through the project.

The third objective, the setting up of a bleeding room for those affected by thalassemia in order to bring about a sense of privacy to those gaining treatment. This would ideally entail a partitioning in an existing room of the treatment centers. The objective could be achieved in two ways. Firstly by providing necessary funding to fix a partitioning in a required area or by assisting in the fixing of a partitioning by providing help in the form of labour

The fourth and final key objective of the project is the providing of vocational training to the victims, as most victims of the sickness are young children or adolescents and the prevailing issues lead to a lack of consistent education or training in a possible field of work. It is therefore a possibility to teach or train the patients in a field of vocation or even provide basic educational requirements in any way possible.

Our dreams seem big. Our goals seem tough. We believe however, that great things are possible when a series of small things comes together. Help us help them. Be the C.U.R.E.